Re: [CR]Rene Herse - Can Anyone Explain, Please?

(Example: Framebuilders:Pino Morroni)

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:18:12 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Rene Herse - Can Anyone Explain, Please?
References: <000c01c5ac9a$7b723330$02544154@norris>


Norris Lockley wrote:
> (snip)
> It's just that...Well..why are folks willing to pay so much money for
> them? I'd build a couple of new ones, cast lugs and all, for that sort
> of money. (snip)
> This is an appeal for help...Really! Can anyone explain how these prices
> are justified..OK market forces etc etc..But I have a score or so of
> frames very similar to this Herse, all with cast lugs, nice seat-stay
> top-eyes, all with impeccably mitred tubes within the bottom-bracket
> shell...all by skilled, but generally unknown builders ie no
> head-badges, decals etc...and all French.

But then the similar to Herse frames wouldn't be Herse. And generally unknown builders don't carry much weight in the collecting world.

Why do Japanese covet Herse? To me one overlooked feature stands out as an example of something the Japanese covet... evidence of the hand. Picture a raku cup with the finger marks clearly visible in the fired clay.

All the René Herse bikes I've seen feature hand painted graphics on the downtube and headtube. And not all that neatly done; clearly done by hand with the gold paint looking mottled as gold paint applied with a brush tends to look and the corners of the letters not being square.

Here's one example of what I'm referring to: http://www.dearchristine.com/Photos/20050828-MOTY-Ride/imgp3976.jpg

I'm not saying that the Japanese pay large sums of money for bikes with hand painted graphics, just that this one unique detail speaks volumes about René Herse and his bikes.

As a graphic designer I've always thought the hand painted graphics on a Herse look incredibly amateurish; now I think maybe something else is going on here.

Can anyone name any other famous marque that has the graphics hand painted on their bikes instead of decals?

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California

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